The other two policemen stood chain-smoking by the door, while Rapp stood at the front desk and did his best to look nervous as hell, which was no easy thing considering the fact that he really wanted to kick down the door and pistol-whip the double-dealing police chief.

That's the contention of federal agents, who Tuesday night arrested a four-person team whose leader supposedly said they were willing to kill, torture or pistol-whip guards at a rival dealer's house to steal a load of cocaine.

As a result of this new status, perhaps young Latinos wandering around stores will no longer be tailed by suspicious proprietors who assume that any group of Hispanics are there to empty the cash register and pistol-whip the owner.